"A bag that accompanies your life."
"Mass production, not mass consumption, thinking about the future of production."
"The side that places the order as a corporate designer" and "the side that orders as a garment factory craftsman". I have looked at the textile industry in Japan from both perspectives. Based on these experiences, I would like to share my thoughts on the future of small factory business from Japan and people's consumption activities.
The founder, Tomoki Ohno, grew up in an environment where his maternal grandparents ran a bag sewing factory and his paternal grandparents ran an ironworks. From an early age, he was familiar with the family business of manufacturing. At university, he enrolled in the textile department of an art university, where he learned the excitement of creating a product from a single thread through cloth. After working as an interior designer for a company, she helped out at her mother's family's garment factory in Ome City, Tokyo.
My grandparents' garment factory had become a subcontracted factory instead of selling its own brand because the workers were aging. Although we have the technology to make products, I felt that our business partners were watching our feet when we looked at the management aspect. However, on the other hand, I was able to feel the advantages that a large company does not have because it is a factory. You can listen to the customer's voice and order, and the reaction when the product is delivered is also directly conveyed. It is precisely because it is a manufacturing site that we can firmly connect customers and makers. If the only purpose is the pursuit of profits, there are many inefficiencies in the manufacturing of town factories. However, in terms of valuing family and people, and valuing social connections, it may be necessary in this day and age.
We want to inherit the starting point of valuing people and connect it to the attachment that customers have for our products.